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Friday, December 21, 2012

Womp, womp, womp. This is not my best work. Actually, this is terrible. It looked so much better in my mind.

I used tape to create the trees, a striper for the string of lights, and a dotting tool for the star. I wish I had more time to do these over again. Unfortunately, I'm too tired from work this week. After the fact, I thought about a dotticure tree. I think it would have looked worlds better.

I can't wait to get a new camera. I wish I could have captured the holo glitter in the green polish.

We're almost done with the challenge! I wonder what else is in store. :)

Thursday, December 20, 2012

When I was headed out the door for work this morning, I saw a package sitting near my front door. (My mailman stops by super early. I know you're all jealous!) I received an awesome RAOK aka a random act of kindness from a lovely lady I met in a nail polish group. Courtney sent me Essie's Butler Please and Tart Deco along with a ton of great goodies. I couldn't wait to get home tonight to give Butler Please a try.

Essie Butler Please is a stunning bright primary blue. This is part of the 2012 winter collection. I usually don't care for blue polish, but that's changing. I've been looking for a polish like this, and it's the perfect addition to my collection.

The formula was great! This is two easy coats with top coat. Dry time was quick, but it did dry a bit one the dull size. I honestly can't believe I've fallen in love with a blue polish.

Because we all know I can't leave well enough alone...

I had to try out Glitzology Crunch Berries over this! As you can tell, I'm really into Glitzology polish right now. Crunch Berries is a mix of yellow, red, and blue matte and satin glitter hexes and squares. I originally ordered this for the name alone; Crunch Berries happen to be Mr. P&P's favorite cereal.

The formula for this glitter was on point. I used two thin coats and two coats of Seche Vite to smooth it out. I'm a bit heavy handed on top coat. I really like the glassy look of floating glitters.

What's your favorite blue? I think might be at the top of my list right now.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was always my favorite Christmas song. Every child loves singing it with the funny interjections, right? This is my favorite manicure of the whole set! I'll try to top it with the remaining two days, but I know it won't be possible. I'm pretty proud of my little reindeer.

Look at these little holo cuties! Adorable, right? Don't worry, they weren't hard to create. I started with a base coat, and then painted on the brown base using Nubar Gem. I've never had a reason to wear this brown holo, but this was perfect! I used dotting tools for all the details. Super, super simple.

Monday, December 17, 2012

My, oh, my! We're so close to being done with this challenge. I honestly thought I wouldn't make it this far. Today's challenge is a gradient. I thought this was the perfect time to try out my newest China Glazes. I picked up the Holiday Charms mini set at Sally's a few weeks ago. Originally, I was going to gift it, but decided to keep it myself. Terrible, I know.

For this look, I started with two coats of Merry Berry, a deep berry jelly with a lovely squishy feel. I was amazed by the coverage! It was fully opaque in two coats. The dry time was great.

For the glitter gradient, I used Glitter All The Way, a multi-sized glitter filled with purple, emerald, ruby, and gold. I started with a nearly dry polish brush and did the base of the glitter down the nail. After it dried, I added more at the base. I repeated this a few times until I got the coverage I wanted.

I finished it off with a coat of Out the Door. The finish is nice and smooth. The glitter wasn't top coat hungry like I expected.

My hand looks mammoth with the China Glaze mini bottle. I have to admit, I'm not usually a fan of minis, but these are much better than others. *cough* OPI *cough*

Does anyone actually read my posts or do you just look at the pictures? ha

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Hello, loves! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. Today was my only day off until Christmas. Needless to say, I pretty much did nothing. I decided to spend the day lounging around the house with Winslow. He's quite okay with my decision. He's currently sleeping under my Snuggie with his head on my lap.

Today's post is stepping away from my nail art challenge. I wanted to make sure I used Glitzology Stuck In The Chimney before Christmas. I would've hated to wait another year to pull this one out of my stash. I have far too many untrieds as it is.

Stuck In The Chimney is a sheer gray shimmery base packed full of red, white, and green glitter. The glitter in this polish varies in shape and size: bar, hex, and square. (I know many of you out there don't care for bar glitter. Don't worry! Stacy, the shop owner, is willing to mix her polishes without the bar glitter included. How many indies will do that?) The variety in this polish makes it interesting to the eye. These swatches show two thin coats over China Glaze Stone Cold.

As with the last Glitzology polish I showed you, the application was flawless. I was so excited to find a bar glitter with this type of application. The bars are unlike any I've used before. They lay flat on the nail and have no curling issues at all. I didn't have to use the dabbing method or fish around for the glitter. Easy as pie.

To finish this look, I used a coat of Gelous and a coat of Out The Door. I wish I could have captured the shimmer of the base. This is absolutely beautiful in real life. I love how the red, white, and green glitters are true to color and aren't overpowered by the gray shimmer base.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

This was a tough one to narrow down. A few characters came to mind, but one stuck out from my childhood. The Abominable Snowman! What can I say? I have a thing for big furry guys. ;)

This was super simple. I used a white base, a coat of Seche Vite, and cotton balls. The face is a base of RBL Faraway. I used dotting tools and stripers. While this isn't practical, it was fun for a minute!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Candy canes sound pretty simple, right? WRONG. I hated doing these. I think it was just my striping tape that didn't agree with the red holo jelly I used for this look. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but it was a pain.

I used WNW White Creme as a base and Hits Ares for the candy stripes. For some reason, the jelly formula of Ares didn't work well for this look. For the silver, I just used a simple striper from Sally's.

My thumb turned out to be my favorite. It's the only one that looked how I imagined before I started this.

This is a look I won't be trying to duplicate. It was a nightmare. I think this was my fifth and final attempt. I was just fed up at this point.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Snow. What an ugly word! I hate snow. If I could have autumn all year round, I would never complain about the weather. Luckily, Pittsburgh hasn't been hit with the white fluffy stuff yet. The weather has been great lately, but enough about that. On to the polish!

This was a simple look. With how much I've been working, I had to take an easy day. I used a few of my favorite pastels for this look: Illamasqua Nomad, Illamasqua Jo'Mina, and Essie Where's My Chauffeur. I was getting tired of the red and green polish already. I had to mix it up.

I used a Bundle Monster plate and Zoya Trixie to create the snowflakes. I love how simple and clean this looks. To fill in some of the empty space, I used a small dotting tool. I finished it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

This is definitely a fun, simple, and refreshing holiday manicure. I love pastels in the winter.

Friday, December 7, 2012

I'm not sure about you, but Elf is one of my favorite holiday movies. I really wanted to use Gremlins as an inspiration. Unfortunately, I failed miserably when trying to paint Gizmo on my nails. It was a hot mess. I opted for a bit of an easier task.

Aside from the penguins that were featured a few days ago, I've never free handed nail art before. This was quite a learning experience for me. I used my dotting tools and a striping brush to create the elf body. For the lettering, I just used a dotting tool. the body took me a good 15 minutes to paint. I removed it and did it over several times before I was happy with it.

For my thumb, I wanted to make swirly twirlies, but it didn't turn out quite like I had anticipated. I used a Bundle Monster stamping plate for the image. It didn't turn out very well and I thought glitter might help it out. Wrong. It was just a hot mess.

See what I mean? The glitter just didn't work out well. Maybe it's before I'm just not a fan of gold tones on me. I feel that I'm far too pale for it. However, I think the letter nails would have looked better with a full coat of the gold. I guess I'll know better next time.

This was a lot a fun to do. I never would have imagined that it would turn out how it did. I'm pretty proud of myself. My boyfriend loved it; he told me not to remove it. I'll probably duplicate this for Christmas with the family.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Day three! Today's challenge is a tape manicure. I used this as a chance to try out a half moon again. My inspiration came from icicles. I didn't want to get burned out on all the red and green, so I went with a blue holographic base: Color Club Blue Heaven.

I used the same paper hole reinforcement stickers as I did in my first half moon post found here. I decided to not use a base color for this. I like the natural half moon in this.

To add to the icy feel, I used a simple silver glitter striper around the crescent of each nail. It made the lines cleaner without overpowering the holographic look the polish. To finish it off, I used a coat of Seche Vite. (That's a big surprise, isn't it?) What do you think of this look?

Monday, December 3, 2012

This month is flying by already! For any of you who work in retail, I'm sure you can relate. It's just going to get worse the closer we get to Christmas.

Today's nail art challenge is penguins! Who doesn't love penguins? If you don't, I don't want to know you. Penguins are one of my favorite animals to see at the zoo. They're such funny little birds.

For this look, I started with a base of Essie Leading Lady, a dark red jelly filled with red glitter. By itself, it's gorgeous. Two coats delivered full coverage. Clean up was easy and the red didn't stain me as so many do.

These cute little guys were easy to make. I started by making the body with a simple brush stroke using Cult Nails Nevermore. After that, I used a large dotting tool to make the face and belly with Wet N Wild White Creme. The eyes, beak, and feet were also made with dotting tools. For the yellow, I used Cult Nails Feel Me Up. For the orange, I used Essie Fear or Desire. I finished it up with a coat of Seche Vite.

After I had already removed this, I thought about adding a scarf or hat. I'm pretty upset that I didn't think of it beforehand! If I replicate this later on, I'll definitely dress them up.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Ho, ho ho! It's the first day of my nail art challenge. I'm not very well versed in nail art so this whole challenge is going to be a learning experience. For today's challenge, I decided to start off easy with a dotticure of red and green.

I used two coats of OPI Here Today Aragon Tomorrow Suede and two coats of Zoya Posh on my index and pinky as an accent. The application on both was a breeze. As with most matte polishes, the dry time was great.

This look didn't take long at all. I used dotting tools I purchased on eBay for a few dollars. They're super simple to use and easy to work with.

Just for fun, I wanted to see how this would look with a top coat. I'm so glad I added Seche Vite to this. I think it looks even more stunning!

For the matte look, the red base was my favorite, but the top coat completely changed it up. I love the green with red dots!